Hanami
by Katana Star
Summary: Sasuke has finally returned home for good! However, Sarada begins to notice bizarre changes in her mother's behavior. When Sakura becomes possessed by a wrathful spirit, Sarada is forced to delve deeper into the complexities of the family dynamic.
1. Chapter 1: Trigger

_A/N: Guess what? I'm back! I used to have a story on here that was called Hanami, but I deleted it since it was poorly written. It wasn't exactly a crossover with Elfen Lied since it did not involve any characters from that series and was set in the Naruto universe. It did, however, borrow concepts from Elfen Lied as will this fic. I initially wanted to rewrite the story, but I decided on an entirely different storyline that is more relevant to the conclusion of the Naruto series. I also wanted to show a bit more fairness to SasuSaku after the conclusion of Lacrimosa. I may bump up the rating as the story goes on._

 _Anyways, enjoy!_

* * *

 **Trigger**

Sarada rested the side of her head against her hand and set her elbow down on the surface of the table. She could hear the distant sounds of Boruto and Inojin exchanging snide remarks somewhere on the street. Her gaze flittered to ChouChou, who sat across from her at a table situated in front a dango shop. ChouChou's golden eyes rolled, echoing Sarada's exact sentiments.

Those boys were always so obnoxiously loud!

A faint smile formed on Sarada's features as she watched Boruto, Inojin, Mitsuki, and Shikadai race past the dango shop and leap onto the rooftop of a burger restaurant. If she had to hazard a guess, they were, without a doubt, up to something mischievous.

A few months following the defeat of the two alien invaders, Momoshiki and Kinshiki, the reconstruction of the stadium was eventually completed. The Hokage announced that all qualified candidates were eligible to retake the Chuunin exam. However, Sarada wasn't in chipper spirits because of the opportunity to participate in the exams again. With the defeat of the Otsutsuki duo, her father was home for good. Finally!

While he was discharged from his drawn out mission investigating Kaguya and her enemies, he was periodically deployed to complete minor assignments outside of Konoha on behalf of the Hokage.

"So, are you going to train with your dad today?" ChouChou asked with a slight tilt of the head.

"No, my dad is on a brief mission to Suna. He said he'll be back in three days," Sarada answered. Instead of becoming downcast when ChouChou broached the topic of her father, a confident smirk flashed across Sarada's face. "I should have it mastered by the time he returns. That'll give me the upper edge in the exams."

Prior to her father departing, he was in the midst of giving her lessons on how to cast Sharingan genjutsu. She managed to successfully cast it on a living target at least seventy-five percent of the time. However, she wanted to ensure that she would close all known genjutsu-repelling loopholes by the time her father returned. That way, she could impress him by demonstrating her commitment to attaining and perfecting the skills necessary to become Hokage someday.

"What about your mom?" ChouChou followed up her initial question. "She's good at genjutsu, isn't she?"

Sarada stared vacantly at a shopkeeper sweeping the sidewalk as if she were consumed in thought.

When Sarada offered her no reply, a concerned wrinkle formed on ChouChou's brow. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know…" Uncertainty filled her onyx eyes and leached into her voice. "My mom has been acting 'off' lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Sarada began. "At first, my mom seemed to more than overjoyed when my dad came home. They got to spend quite a bit of alone time together. But now, it seems like my mom is 'fake' happy."

ChouChou contorted her chubby, youthful face bewilderedly as she claimed the last of the dango. "What do you mean by 'fake'?"

Sarada turned her gaze upward as she contemplated how she would explain her mother's aberrant behavior. "It's like the happiness wore off or something."

"I still don't quite get what you mean," ChouChou said with a mouthful of dango and shook her head. "I don't think couples can be lovey-dovey all the time. Maybe they're no longer in the honeymoon phase. That's normal with couples, right?"

Sarada tucked a stray lock of her jet black hair behind her ear and adjusted the earpiece of her glasses. "My mom will suddenly change course whenever they cross paths in the hallway like she's trying to avoid him. Sometimes she'll stop smiling whenever he enters the room. She'll get out of bed at two in the morning to take long walks outside and then spend the rest of the morning doing random chores. I just feel like she's not truly happy now that he's home and I don't know what's changed."

"Perhaps they got into an argument?"

Sarada couldn't pinpoint what exactly had caused this rift between them. Did they argue over finances? The home loan? Were they at odds with each other over household decisions? Was her mother upset with him for accepting short term missions despite being gone for so long? Were there problems in the bedroom?

Sarada rested her head against her hand and heaved another sigh. "It's impossible to tell what goes on between the two of them. They're always so secretive. I don't want to question my mom about it because she might get mad again."

The volume of ChouChou's voice diminished to a near-whisper. "What if they were never meant to be?"

ChouChou immediately regretted thoughtlessly opening her mouth when Sarada's weary expression morphed to one of despondency. She hated seeing Sarada like this again. Unable to think of anything to remedy her tactless words, ChouChou remained politely silent.

"My dad told me their hearts were connected and I am the proof of that." A rectangular, bright light flared from the lenses of Sarada's glasses when her gaze fell to the ground. "I know his words were genuine and he hasn't changed at all while he's been home. I think it's something with my mom."

"Oh my god!" ChouChou's eyes broadened as she stumbled across a salacious thought. "What if your mom is actually a succubus who devours the hearts of men at night?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sarada uttered dully. Though she was blatantly unamused with her friend's obvious, yet tasteless joke, she offered her a wry smile.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood here." ChouChou put a finger to her plump lips and hummed for a moment. "Maybe you're reading too much into this?"

"I think you're right," Sarada admitted. "I'm making a mountain out of a mole hole. Her work schedule did change recently and she's probably trying to adjust to life with my dad back in the household."

The onset of dusk settled over Konoha, enveloping the village in a warm, amber glow. Calling it a day, the two young kunoichi rose from their seats and cleared off the table. Sarada bid her best friend goodbye as they parted ways and set course for home.

* * *

Sarada returned to find her mother inside the kitchen, removing groceries from a bag and setting them on the counter.

"I'm home," Sarada said, approaching Sakura from behind.

Sakura craned her neck over her shoulder and returned her greeting. "Welcome home, Sarada."

"Mama," Sarada began, twiddling her fingers somewhat bashfully. "Would it be alright if we trained really quickly before it gets too dark?"

Sakura pivoted to face her daughter, who kept her gaze averted and lips pouted. Sakura smiled inwardly, fully aware that she was putting on her sweet, innocent front to coax her into getting her way. Quite frankly, it didn't take much for her to cave to that cunning child's demands. She knew how desperately she wanted to advance her genjutsu skills and learn as much as she could from her father.

"Fine," Sakura stated with her arms folded across her chest. "Really quickly before we get dinner started."

Satisfied that her little ploy had proven successful, Sarada nodded and followed her mother out the sliding door leading to the yard. Sakura lectured her on the basics of genjutsu, which was something she already knew from both the Academy and her prior training sessions with her parents. Before Sarada tuned her mother out from sheer boredom, Sakura clapped her hands together loudly, seizing her undivided attention.

"Genjutsu relies on altering the chakra pathways of the nervous system and influencing the five senses. Genjutsu can be repelled if the target has impeccable chakra control." Sakura raised a finger and delivered her direct instructions, "Now, activate your Sharingan and cast a genjutsu on me."

Sarada grimaced hesitantly, standing adjacent to her mother. "Um, are you sure about this?"

A coarse laugh escaped Sakura's throat as she pointed to her chest in a cocky manner. "Your mom is resistant to even high level genjutsu, you know. There's nothing to worry about."

Though Sarada wasn't completely assured by Sakura's claim, she drew a deep breath, closed her eyes, and readied herself. Sarada's irises bled red when her long lashed eyelids fluttered open. Sakura stared directly into her single-tomoe Sharingan, permitting her to cast a genjutsu over her without initial resistance.

"Good, Sarada. Now—" Sakura's body suddenly jolted violently, as though she were stricken by a bolt of lightning.

Utter panic washed over Sarada as her mother's bloodcurdling screams filled her ears and penetrated her at her core. Sakura clutched the sides of her head and curled into herself. Without wasting a second more, Sarada deactivated her Sharingan, instantly dispelling the genjutsu. To her dismay, Sakura's piercing screams did not abate though she was absolutely certain she fully terminated the genjutsu.

"Mama!" she cried out, rushing to her mother's aid as her body teetered to the ground.

Sarada caught her mother's limp body in her arms, preventing her from hitting the ground. She adjusted her grip and widened her stance in order to keep Sakura's body upright.

"—hate you…" Sakura muttered unintelligibly.

"Mama?" Sarada breathed, not quite catching her frail words.

From her angle, she could only see the bright pink crown of her mother's dangling head.

"I hate you…"

Sarada's heart dropped into the pits of her gut once she deciphered her mumbled words. What was she saying? Was she talking about her? Was it about Papa? Was her mother divulging her innermost thoughts or was she jumping the gun and misinterpreting mere nonsense spoken from the aftereffects of her genjutsu?

Sarada swallowed forcefully and repeated once more, "Mama?"

Sakura slowly lifted her head at the sound of the girl's shaky voice. Never had Sarada fathomed seeing such an unsettling look of unfettered hatred burn within her mother's vivid green eyes.

"I am not your damn mother!" Sakura snarled savagely like a wild beast.

Before Sarada knew it, a hard slap landed on the side of her face, launching her small body across the yard and through the neighboring fence.

* * *

 _A/N: Looks like things are going swimmingly at the Uchiha Household. Thanks for reading and please remember to review!_


	2. Chapter 2: Haunted

_A/N: Big thanks to all those who reviewed. I swear I'm not writing fanfiction to procrastinate_! _Also, is_ _anyone else having issues with this website? New chapters don't seem to be showing up for me, although they say they've been updated._

* * *

 **Haunted**

Sakura's eyelids lifted slowly, sighting nothing but the eggshell-white ceiling above. Apparently she was on the floor of their living room, nestled within a bundle of blankets gathered from the closet. She wiped her bleary eyes and turned her gaze to the sobbing girl kneeling beside her.

"S-Sarada?" Sakura stammered, noticing the fresh bruise marring the side of her face. "What happened?"

Sarada's balled hands quivered before she cried out, "You assured me you were my mother!"

"Not this again. How many times are we going to go over this?" Sakura groaned with a roll of the eyes. She propped herself up to a seated position and added emphatically, "Of course I'm your mother."

Anger coursed through Sarada and heated her tearstained face. "Then why did you say you weren't? Why did you slap me?"

"What?!" Sakura gasped, taken aback by her daughter's outlandish accusation. "I would never—!"

"What's going on?" Sarada interrupted, cutting Sakura's denial short. "What's been going on between you and Papa?"

Sakura's expression contorted to one of both confusion and affrontedness. "Nothing's been going on between us. What is this all about?"

"Then why do you keep trying to ignore him whenever he's home? Why don't you seem happy with him anymore?"

Her mother's sharp green eyes narrowed sternly. "I couldn't be more grateful for his return home. I am happy being with your father and I always will be."

Honestly, Sakura didn't know how many times she would have to reiterate those words for that stubborn child to finally retire those tired suspicions. She wasn't aware of anything recently occurring that would revive Sarada's qualms over their marriage. Sarada appeared to be in higher spirits once he returned home and Sakura certainly wasn't aware of any open conflict between the two of them. Was some nameless gossiper spreading vicious rumors about their marriage?

Sarada remained unconvinced as she looked her mother directly in the face. There was no mistaking the underlying defensiveness in Sakura's assertion. Though her mother denied any friction within their marriage, Sarada was able to read her like an open book. Her mother's words weren't congruent with her unspoken body language, which revealed her implicit thoughts and feelings.

"You've been overworking yourself lately," Sakura heard Shizune speak from the hallway, snapping her out of her mulling. She glimpsed to the dark haired woman entering the living room. "Maybe that's why you fainted."

"I suppose you might be right," Sakura answered with a strained, noisy sigh. "I've been working overtime so my husband wouldn't have to take on another long term mission to pay off the loan."

"Mama," Sarada said as she watched her mother clear away the stray hairs clinging to her forehead. She stared fixedly at Sakura's brow as if she had something on her face. "What happened to your seal?"

"Huh?" Sakura blinked twice, not quite understanding the cause for her daughter's concern.

"It's all misshapen." Sarada thumbed the purple mark on her mother's broad forehead, which was missing the left half and had assumed an unusual semicircular appearance.

"I think it would be best if you took tomorrow off. Your fatigue might be affecting your chakra reserves," Shizune hypothesized, resting her chin on a clenched hand.

"Thank you for dropping by, Shizune." Sakura tossed the blanket off her legs and rose to her feet. She approached Sarada and embraced her smaller frame tightly. "I'm sorry, Sarada. I would never intentionally hurt you."

"Too tight," Sarada managed to utter, feeling suffocated by her mother's vice grip-like hug. Sakura backed off, allowing her daughter room to breathe. "You should go upstairs and rest. I can finish making dinner."

Sakura and Sarada bid Shizune farewell at the front door. She heeded Shizune and Sarada's advice and headed upstairs for an early night's sleep. Once Sarada finished her meal, she completed the last of her homework in a hurry and called it a night.

* * *

After handing her daughter her lunch box and wishing her a good day at school, Sakura arranged to spend the day relaxing with Ino. The two agreed to meet at their favorite café, which was located a few blocks away from the hospital. Sakura claimed the chair on the other side of the table and sat across from Ino.

"You look terrible," Ino stated right off the bat, noting the dark circles under her friend's eyes, which she had poorly attempted to conceal with makeup.

"Good morning to you too," Sakura barked a dry laugh.

A smile puckered Ino's lips as she flipped her long blonde locks, flaunting her morning freshness and beauty. Her smile softened to a look of concern when Sakura did not appear receptive to her playful teasing. "Are you working overtime again?"

"I did take on a few extra shifts to cover this month's expenses," Sakura admitted with a guilty inflection, repeating the same response she had given Shizune last night. She rested the side of her head against her hand wearily. "Sarada has been acting silly again since Sasuke left for Suna."

"Again?" Ino stifled a laugh and twisted her face in disbelief. "I thought he was only going to be gone for a few days."

"He's returning in two days. I believe she's worried about him leaving for another long mission."

"It's perfectly understandable for her to be. She's had it tough." Ino's voice sobered as she locked eyes with Sakura and added, "And so have you."

"I've managed fine. Plus, for all the sacrifices made, the payoff was well worth it. We have him to thank for our lives," Sakura said with an air of equanimity and smiled.

However, the insincerity in her smile did not fall beneath Ino's notice.

Uneasy with the turn the conversation had taken, Sakura turned her attention to the menu and raised it to eye-level. Her pink brows furrowed as she examined the menu more closely. "Are the menus in a different language?"

Ino's ice blue eyes briefly skimmed over the menu lying on the table in front of her. "No, it's in Japanese."

"I don't think so," Sakura dissented with an assertive shake of the head, bringing the menu closer to her face. "It seems to be written in a foreign language."

"So Sarada _did_ inherit her poor eyesight from you!" The Yamanaka grinned and pointed an accusatory finger at Sakura.

Her stale joke drew out an unamused scowl from Sakura. "I'm not joking, Ino. None of these characters make any sense."

Reading the genuine frustration written in Sakura's face, Ino withdrew her finger and sank back into her chair. "The menu is written in Japanese. I swear," she insisted, shifting her tone to accent her honesty. "Maybe you need glasses?"

"I had no problems reading yesterday. My vision wouldn't change that drastically in one day. Maybe I hit my head when I fainted?" Sakura speculated as she laid the menu flat on the table.

"You really should get it checked out," Ino suggested worriedly, taking Sakura by the hand to quell any hint of resistance from her. "I'll come with you."

Though Sakura resolved to avoid the hospital during her time off, she knew better than to take head trauma lightly. The two women rose from their chairs and set course for Konoha Hospital, which was only a short walk from the café. Since they did not possess their badges on them, they were immediately flagged down by security at the hospital entrance. Upon recognizing the two highly esteemed medics, the security guard permitted them free access to the emergency department.

Fortunately, the activity inside the emergency department appeared to be lighter than usual. However, it was typical for all hell to break loose in a matter of seconds—particularly whenever any of the inexperienced medics uttered the accursed word, "quiet." Sakura and Ino greeted the three medics socializing at the station, who scrambled to feign busyness in the presence of the two high ranking medics.

"Oh, Sakura-san," one of the medics, Sakura recognized as Manami, said with a respectful bow of the head. "I thought you were off today."

"I fainted last night and figured it may be best to receive an examination," Sakura explained to the mousy haired woman sporting a low ponytail.

Sakura and Ino followed Manami inside an empty exam room. Predictably, Manami initially asked her all of the standardized questions they asked head trauma patients.

"The last thing I remember was training Sarada in genjutsu. I don't have a headache or neck stiffness," Sakura answered and continued denying symptoms without allowing Manami a chance to raise any questions. "No nausea, vomiting, dizziness, balance issues, photosensitivity, double or blurry vision. However, I seem to have issues reading now."

Manami instructed Sakura to track the movements of her finger in order to detect any extraocular movements. She retrieved a penlight from the cabinet and shined it in Sakura's eyes, assessing her pupil reactivity. The medic returned the penlight to the drawer and exchanged it for a small card containing a Katakana chart.

"Can you tell me what the second character of the top row reads?" Manami asked, handing the card to Sakura.

Sakura carefully studied the card and stole a quick glance to Ino, sitting in the corner of the exam room. She felt beads of perspiration forming at the root of her hairline. The longer she spent looking at the card, the more she imagined Ino's judgmental eyes boring into her for failing to answer what should've been a simple question.

A tidal wave of embarrassment washed over Sakura as she lowered the card defeatedly. "I don't know. It just looks like a bunch of lines."

"Real—?" Manami blurted out before cutting herself off, reminding herself to maintain her professionalism—especially in the presence of the greatest medic-nin across the land. "It reads 'ka.' Can you tell me what the character after it is?"

Sakura complied with her order and glimpsed back at the card. "They all just look like random lines."

Manami swapped the Katakana chart for one with various pictures of random objects, which was used to test the vision of the illiterate. She repeated her question once more, "Can you tell me what the second object is in the top row?"

"It's a bird," Sakura answered without hesitation. Taking a step ahead of Manami's line of questions, she identified the remainder of the pictured objects featured on the top row of the card. "The one after that is a house, then a cat, umbrella, carrot, and an ice cream cone."

Flabbergasted, Manami looked to Ino for guidance, whose expression also matched her own. She pointed to the last row, containing the tiniest lineup of objects. "Can you tell me the objects in the last row?"

Catching only a brief glimpse of the card, Sakura answered, "Rainbow, cow, pencil, hand, table, magnifying glass."

Without commenting on the peculiar finding, Manami moved onto examining Sakura's gait, balance, coordination, sensitivity to touch and pressure, and short-term memory. Concluding her in-depth neurological assessment, she turned to the two women awaiting her analysis.

Manami clasped her hands together and delivered her findings. "Your vision is 20/15 and I didn't detect any other ocular abnormalities. There aren't any other abnormal neurological findings in your examination. It seems whatever head trauma you received has affected your language skills. I think it would be prudent to get some scans to further evaluate any damage."

Sakura nodded in agreement, having already anticipated an investigation with digital imaging. Manami's deduction coincided with her own assessment of her condition. Deep down, a part of her was reluctant to have a scan conducted on her. She hoped any abnormal findings wouldn't place an emotional burden on her daughter, who already seemed to be distressed by her father's short term absence.

She beseeched the gods to spare her precious daughter from any more heartache.

Manami ordered the technicians to prepare Sakura for imaging. Ino faithfully remained by her side like any good friend would. She took Sakura's headband and the bangles around her wrists while she shed her clothing and changed into a hospital gown. Ino walked her over to a noisy, doughnut-shaped machine and helped her climb up onto the long table. Allowing the technician to take over from there, Ino headed over to the backroom to serve as a second pair of eyes for Manami once the images were processed on the computer.

Sakura nodded absentmindedly as the technician gave her the usual spiel he gave every patient upon induction. She lie flat on her back and closed her eyes as the table moved her body towards the rotating tube. Though most patients exhibited anxiety during the scanning process, the rhythmic thumping and whirring sounds of the machine were soothing to her ears. Her body tensed as the table came to a harsh stop, but she quickly relaxed, allowing herself to sink into the table and bask in the mechanical heat of the machine.

The technician balked in alarm when he heard Sakura's screams fill the room. His first thought was that she still had metal hidden somewhere within her body. Before he knew it, he was buffeted by an invisible force and cast into the side of the wall. He turned his gaze upward to the sight of the pink haired medic towering over him. Paralyzed in a crablike position on the floor, he could see the gleam of bloodlust flaring within her green eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to me, human?" she hissed icily in a voice barely her own.

The lights overhead cast an eerie shadow over her face, sending shivers racing down the technician's spine. "S-Sakura-san…?"

A crisp yelp escaped Sakura's throat as Ino rammed her with her shoulder, tackling her to the ground. Ino braced herself against Sakura's violently thrashing body, restraining her just long enough to allow Manami the chance to administer a sedative. The brunette medic quickly snaked the needle into a vein on the back of Sakura's hand and slowly pushed down on the plunger. Sakura's thrashing gradually abated once the sedative took effect. Ino heaved a sigh of relief as she released Sakura and rose to her feet.

The two medics silently exchanged disconcerted glances. They each grabbed one of downed woman's arms and hoisted her off the floor. Using their combined strength, Ino and Manami heaved the limp Sakura back onto the table to repeat the scan.

* * *

Sarada sat in a chair at her mother's bedside on the critical care unit of the hospital. The room was relatively quiet, save for the ticking of the clock and the beeping monitors connected to her mother. She informed Ino that she would stay with her grandparents for the night. It was already half past eleven o'clock and she had no intention of leaving her mother's side, although she had a training session with Konohamaru and her teammates in the morning.

The medics told her the effects of the sedative Sakura was given would wear off within an hour at the most and she would become alert again. As far as she knew, it had been almost twelve hours since the last dose and her mother's listlessness remained unchanged.

She waved a piece of sweet bread underneath Sakura's nose, hoping the tantalizing smell of the offering would rouse a response from her.

Any kind of response. Any at all.

"Mama, don't you want to eat?" Sarada raised the hospital tray up to her mother's chest level and maneuvered it over the bed.

If she couldn't successfully encourage her mother to eat, she was certain the medics would insert a feeding tube to supplement her nutrition. She prodded the corner of her mother's mouth with the piece of bread.

"Please, Mama…"

Despite her persistent coaxing, her mother's head hung limply and her glazed, deadened eyes remained affixed to the bedsheets. It was as though her soul had departed her body, leaving her nothing more than an empty shell of a human being. Earlier that day, her mother had wished her well and set out to enjoy a day of relaxation with one of her dearest friends. What exactly happened to cause her to fall into a stuporous state?

More importantly, would she ever come out of it?

Would she ever wake up to see the faces of her husband and daughter again?

Sarada resigned her efforts of trying to force-feed her mother and set the bread down on the tray. She tried to douse the onslaught of despondent thoughts cascading through her mind by working on her history assignment ahead of the due date. Nevertheless, her efforts to preoccupy herself with homework were for naught. All she could focus on was her mother and nothing else.

Hot tears pricked her glossy eyes, fogging up her glasses. When she heard the loud creak of the door slowly opening, she attempted to hide all evidence of her tears by lifting her glasses with one hand and smearing her face with the other.

"Nanadaime! Oba-san!" Sarada's gaze snapped to the door as Naruto and Ino entered the room. "Good evening."

"You're still here? I thought you had gone over to your grandparents' house?" Ino asked her, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall in a not-so-subtle way of reminding the girl of the time.

"I want to stay the night here with my mom," Sarada stated decisively, bracing herself for the two adults' impending objections. Derailing the topic of her overnight stay, she turned to Ino and asked, "Oba-san, why is my mom like this? She seemed to be fine this morning."

"All of your mom's lab results came back normal," Ino started.

Sarada's face paled a ghostly white. "I did this to her, didn't I? My genjutsu damaged her brain…"

"No." Ino shook her head. Despite trying to allay the girl's guilt, the gravity in her voice lingered. "Your mom's chakra pathways are undisturbed. However…"

Sarada could hear her heartbeat pounding in her skull, becoming increasingly louder with every passing second Ino stalled. If her mother's chakra pathways were intact, then it indicated that her condition was not caused by genjutsu. If this was the case, then what else could've rendered her like this?

Ino drew in a steadying breath before continuing, "Her chakra pathways have mysteriously degenerated."

"How did this happen?" Naruto interjected skeptically, scrutinizing the conspicuously misshapen seal on Sakura's forehead. "She's not been in any recent battles that I know of."

"No, this doesn't appear to be injury related. We repeated the scans and the only abnormality we were able to identify is the enlargement of the pineal gland. A normal pineal gland is the size of a pea. Sakura's is the size of an egg. Though it's completely unheard of, Manami and I believe this is the cause of her symptoms," Ino explained as succinctly as she could to Naruto.

Sarada's voice trembled as she spoke, "Are you telling me my mom has—?" Choked with immense grief, she found herself incapable of finishing the rest of her sentence.

Though despair gripped Ino's heart and wrung any sliver of hope out of it, she steeled herself to deliver the remainder of the devastating news. "I'm afraid your mom has a very aggressive brain tumor that's destroyed most of her chakra system. The prognosis for recovery is bleak."

Speechless, Sarada struggled to process the unfathomable words she had just heard. Was this reality or had some kind of cruel genjutsu been cast on her?

The blonde Hokage searched for anything to say in the midst of the silence that fell over the room. He drew his cellphone from his jacket pocket and uttered in a voice devoid of any emotion, "I'll notify Gaara so he can relay the message to Sasuke."

For so long, Sarada craved her father's presence in their home life, eventually channeling her mounting frustrations into anger towards her mother. At one point, she had taken her mother's love and compassion for granted, even going so far as to abandon her. Now that her father was back in the picture, her mother was the one who would be permanently absent from her life. Would her mother cross over into the afterlife with the parting thoughts of her daughter expressing doubts over her parentage and the health of their marriage?

She yearned for the final chance to tell her mother that she loved her. But, it was too late now.

Sarada's knees suddenly buckled, causing her to collapse into Ino's outstretched arms. Unable to continue combatting the overwhelming grief consuming her, Sarada buried her face into Ino's chest as they sobbed together at Sakura's bedside.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, thanks for reading and please remember to review!_


	3. Chapter 3: Awakening

**Awakening**

Having received the tragic message from the Kazekage, Sasuke promptly aborted his mission in Sunagakure. In his opinion, his assistance was no longer necessary and the Suna shinobi force was fully capable of sufficing on its own. Before seeing him off, the Kazekage expressed his heartfelt condolences for Sakura's ailment.

For quite some time, he noticed the gradual changes in his wife's day-to-day behavior. Her cheerfulness eventually faded after his return home from his mission investigating Kaguya's enemies. Though he expected his daughter to harbor residual feelings of resentfulness toward him for his absence, he never expected it to manifest from Sakura. Recently, she had become avoidant of him around the house and her voracious demands for intimacy subsided until she became totally frigid in bed. If questioned, she typically plastered a false smile on her face and denied that anything was wrong. Nevertheless, the discreet, venomous glares she cast him did not go unnoticed.

Sakura was oddly insistent on completing chores late in the night until the crack of dawn, as if seeking an excuse to avoid him. Furthermore, her sanity was deserting her as well. A few days prior, he came across her pouring water on the kitchen floor with a watering can, seemingly tending to nonexistent plants. Though the presence of an aggressive brain tumor explained the cause of her decline in cognitive function, he couldn't shake the growing suspicion gnawing at him like a parasite within. A tumor did not explain why she was specifically antipathetic towards him. He hadn't observed her demonstrate any hostile behavior towards Sarada upon his return. Was the tumor gradually shedding her inhibitions and exposing her innermost thoughts and feelings? Though Sakura was undeniably saddened by his departure, she seemed to understand the critical importance of his long mission.

Perhaps she was never truly at peace with his absence?

He dismissed the notion of any resentfulness born of his absence. There was nothing to suggest that Sakura bore a grudge toward him. She wasn't someone who concealed her true emotions well. He would've easily noticed something was off during the Gokage meeting or when she was kidnapped by Shin while he was still in the midst of his mission. Not afterward.

Maybe he was mistakenly attributing her bizarre behavior to some kind of wrongdoing on his part. It was entirely possible that the brain tumor was the sole culprit behind the changes. Sakura always loved him—even during the worst of times. Her mental fortitude was matched by none.

Sasuke departed Suna and set his travels northeast towards Konoha, where Naruto and Sarada were awaiting his return. A small part of him dreaded returning to his homeland. He had no idea what to expect when he arrived at Konoha Hospital.

* * *

"Sarada?"

The young Uchiha stared vacantly at the yellow wall behind the crown of her friend's head and her chestnut pigtails. The dull murmurs of the burger restaurant patrons filled the air.

"Sarada," she heard ChouChou repeat herself, jolting her out of her listless reverie. "You haven't touched your food."

ChouChou hungrily eyed Sarada's untouched carton of fries on her tray.

Sarada transferred the fries to ChouChou's tray and said indifferently, "I'm not hungry."

"What's wrong?" she asked, gladly helping herself to Sarada's fries. To her delight, the fries hadn't become cold yet.

"It's my mom…"

"Is she still acting weird toward your dad?" ChouChou spoke through a mouth full of fries.

A glassy sheen filled Sarada's eyes before she turned her gaze downward to her lap. "My mom has a brain tumor."

"What?!" ChouChou exclaimed loudly in disbelief. "Can't they just cure her with medical ninjutsu?"

"The doctors said the tumor is so aggressive, it's made her pineal gland eight times bigger than normal. Her chakra levels are so low, they don't know if she would survive surgery," Sarada answered in a voice rife with despondency. She bit her bottom lip to contain the tears threatening to escape her eyes. "They're just monitoring her right now, but she's declined so much I don't know if she'll make it…"

"Did you just say a pineal gland tumor?" a young, male voice said from the booth behind them.

ChouChou inflated her cheeks indignantly when she spotted the powder-blue haired boy emerge from the behind the booth. "Were you eavesdropping on us this entire time?"

Mitsuki arose from his seat and casually approached their table. A smile spread across his face, despite the bitter glare the Akimichi shot at him.

"My parent can easily cure something like that," he stated with outright confidence.

The two girls silently exchanged skeptical glances. As far as they knew, Orochimaru was a scientist, not a healer.

Sarada shuddered internally as Orochimaru's creepy, pale visage flashed in her mind. She shrugged off the unpleasant image and asked, "How are you so certain?"

"My parent can perform procedures the medic-nin here wouldn't consider doing." Mitsuki placed a finger to his lips as he paused, recollecting a vague memory while he resided at Orochimaru's hideout. "I remember coming across a stack of research notes that mentioned something about pineal glands and a special mutation."

Sarada remained unconvinced. "What do you mean?"

"I just saw the cover page of his notes, but I never bothered to read it. I suppose you'll have to ask my parent about that. He'd probably be willing to examine your mother and give you a second opinion."

A spark of optimism ignited inside her pessimistic heart. However, it was quickly doused by a rising flood of suspicion. "How can I trust he won't hurt my mom?"

"Orochimaru would never allow the most talented medic-nin to die. It's clear that the Konoha medics are monitoring her because they are at a loss of what to do," Mitsuki asserted. "At least Orochimaru can tell you whether it is treatable or not."

Sarada carefully contemplated her options. If the Konoha medic-nins were aware of possible treatment options, they would've, the very at least, discussed it with her and the Hokage or made mention of it. Considering her mother's incredibly rapid decline, there wasn't much time left for her. Their prudence and uncertainty was surely a death sentence. She didn't believe her father would return to Konoha in time to make decisions about her mother's care. If she allowed Orochimaru to assess her condition, he may give her recommendations on how to proceed next. She could never forgive herself if her mother died in the care of the Konoha medics while Orochimaru was aware of a cure. She owed it to her mother to never give up and to exhaust all possible options she could.

Both ChouChou and Mitsuki silently awaited her answer.

Sarada drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Let's take her to see Orochimaru."

* * *

With the help of Mitsuki's Soft Physique Modification technique to extend his limbs, Sarada was able to successfully sneak Sakura out the hospital window. The genin trio traveled towards the closest hideout Mitsuki was aware of. Strangely enough, Sakura was still capable of performing gross motor functions such as sitting up and maintaining her balance. She could walk if led by the hand, but she was incapable of following verbal orders or navigating obstacles that required a more complex thought process.

Sarada carted her mother around in a steel wagon and draped a blanket over her head to avoid detection while inside the village boundaries. Once they passed the village gates, Sarada uncovered her mother's head to ensure she wasn't being suffocated by the thick blanket.

"Are you sure about this?" ChouChou griped breathlessly, wiping the layer of sweat that formed on her brow. Once they neared the mouth of a cave settled within the wilderness, she hunched over and placed her hands on her knees.

"We can't turn back now," Sarada stated determinedly, pressing onward into the entrance of the cave.

ChouChou's chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath. Quickly falling behind the others who had ventured deeper inside the cave, she hastened her pace. Despite already having seen the lair once before, ChouChou hugged herself and shuddered at the eerie sight of the snake lanterns illuminating the long stretch of corridor. Sarada halted in her tracks, recognizing the two men guarding the entrance of the laboratory.

"What are you doing here?" a man with a distinct set of pointy teeth asked. "This isn't some place you kids can explore for fun."

Mitsuki took a step forward, immediately taking charge. "We need to see Orochimaru."

"Why?" Jugo's brow furrowed skeptically.

"It's because of my mom," Sarada answered, reaching for the blanket draped over her mother.

Suigetsu cowered like a cornered animal as she pulled the blanket off, revealing the pink haired woman underneath. "I swear I didn't—!" He cut himself off midsentence, noting the lifeless look in the woman's eyes. "Eh? What's wrong with her?"

"That's what we're here for," Sarada clarified, placing her hands on her hips.

Yielding to the children's demand without further objection, Suigetsu and Jugo wheeled around and lead the trio into the core of the laboratory.

"I see you've returned to visit." Orochimaru said from a distance, lifting his gaze over the brim of his teacup. He fanned the piping hot tea with his hand and chuckled softly to himself. "I didn't think you'd come back so soon."

Sarada cleared her throat before she made her request. "My mother suddenly became like this. The doctors say she has a brain tumor. I was wondering if you would take a look at her."

Orochimaru raised a sole eyebrow, noticing the young Uchiha towing Tsunade's disciple around in a red wagon. She wore a green hospital gown and did not seem at all cognizant of her surroundings. A frown settled over Orochimaru's face. "So the Konoha nins passed the buck onto me?"

"They don't know what to do. She has a brain tumor." Sarada began to feel her spirits wane, anticipating that he would turn a deaf ear to her plea. "A pineal gland tumor."

"Pineal gland tumor?" he asked with an intrigued inflection to his wheezy voice. He stroked his chin and hummed to himself in thought. "What else can you tell me?"

"First, she started acting weird. Then, the doctors said that she became violent when they scanned her. All of her labs are normal, but her chakra pathways have deteriorated. Her seal is all messed up too."

"Interesting. How long has she been like this?" Orochimaru inquired further, setting the teacup aside.

Sarada wracked her brain for an exact timeline. "She started acting weird around my dad a few weeks ago. She fell into a stupor yesterday and hasn't shown any signs of improvement."

Orochimaru hollered to the woman in the wagon, "Sakura-chan, can you hear me?" When Sakura failed to respond, Orochimaru crouched down to her level and studied her vacant expression. He held up a finger, realization dawning on him. "Ah, I see what's going on."

The children and Suigetsu curiously edged closer to get a better peek at whatever had caught Orochimaru's eyes. Suigetsu glanced over his shoulder at Jugo as if expecting an explanation. His comrade merely shrugged his shoulders, echoing the same confusion over Orochimaru's discovery.

Orochimaru turned to Sarada. "I believe your mother's condition is entirely curable. I can perform a simple procedure to heal her."

"Really?" Sarada's eyes lit up with restored optimism.

The genin and Orochimaru's lab assistants watched him head into the back inventory room where he stored supplies. From a distance, Sarada could hear the grating sound of a wooden ladder scooting across the floor, followed by the shuffling of paper and glass. Sarada reckoned that at least five minutes had passed before he returned to the main laboratory with what appeared to be a wooden jewelry box.

Orochimaru firmly gestured with his hand. "I'm going to need you all to give me some space."

The observing group heeded his order and backed up against the wall to grant him adequate space for the procedure. Sarada felt her suspicions resurface once more as Orochimaru approached Sakura. Why was he preparing to operate on her mother while she was still sitting in the cart? Did he not have a proper surface to work on? Where were his medical instruments and why didn't he set up a sterile field to perform the procedure?

How was it possible to perform brain surgery under such unorthodox conditions?

Orochimaru opened the lid of the jewelry box and removed an unusual black object that Sarada couldn't identify from the angle she was standing at. The corner of his mouth tugged upward into a cunning smirk.

"Are you two fighting it out in there?" he chuckled hoarsely into Sakura's ear. "How about I declare the victor so that body doesn't go to waste?"

Orochimaru hooked a black velvet choker necklace with a silver bell pendant around her neck. He took a step backward and curiously watched the deformed Byakugou seal change shape. Without warning, Sakura began screaming as though she was in immense agony.

"Mama!" Sarada's blood ran ice cold as her mother's piercing screams resounded off the walls of the lair. She attempted to rush towards her only to be forcibly restrained by Mitsuki's hand on the collar of her qipao.

Sakura clasped her hands over her eyes, which were streaming with twin trails of tears. Sarada raised her arm to shield herself from the blinding light that engulfed her mother's body and intensified her unbearable screams.

She looked to Orochimaru, hoping he would read the urgency written in her face and do something—anything—to help her mother. To her dismay, he calmly watched the scene unfold while wearing a satisfied grin on his pallid face.

"Mama!" the young Uchiha cried out again, struggling to wrest herself free from Mitsuki's firm grasp. "Let me go!"

Sarada withered in relief as the bright light faded and her mother's screams finally abated. The woman stood up and stepped out of the wagon, planting her bare feet on the ground. She dangled her head, ruffled pink tresses veiling her eyes. Her hair was at least two shades darker than usual, slightly more voluminous, and had somehow grown to reach her hips. In addition to the change in hair, she possessed a pair of horns atop her head that were reminiscent of cat ears.

Orochimaru took a step towards her and flourished his hands in a grandiose manner, as if welcoming her to his abode. "So, you've awake—"

Suddenly, there was an explosion of blood and bone, drawing shrieks from the two young girls. Some type of unseen weapon cleaved Orochimaru's body in half, bisecting him at the waist. Though stricken with a powerful bout of nausea, Sarada could not peel her eyes away from the grisly sight of blood and entrails oozing from the two halves of his dismembered body. The smell of blood saturated the air, overwhelming her nares. She held her hand to her mouth, stifling the overwhelming urge to either scream again or vomit.

"What the hell?!" Suigetsu's mouth hung agape in bewilderment.

Soft chuckles bubbled within Jugo before erupting into wild, unbridled laughter. The sudden display of violence roused the bloodlust deep within his being, triggering an involuntary transformation. An ashy grey hue spread across his face and blackened the sclera of his left eye. He locked his mismatched eyes on the pink haired woman and transformed his arm into a demonic, axe-like appendage. She stood stock-still, dangling her head as Jugo reeled his arm back and charged at her like an enraged bull.

Sarada flinched at the sickening sound of snapping bone and the thud of the transformed appendage hitting the ground.

Jugo's agonized howls permeated the dank air of the laboratory. He buckled to his knees, clutching his severed arm against his chest in an effort to smother his pain and staunch the outpouring of blood.

Unlike the compassionate medic Sarada had known all her life, this woman was completely unmoved by the man's gut-wrenching cries of pain. Was her mother the one who slew Orochimaru and tore Jugo's arm off or were her eyes deceived by genjutsu? How did she attack them if she didn't have any obvious weapons on her? There was too great of a distance between them to engage in close-quarters combat. Since her mother did not have an affinity for wind, it was highly unlikely that she used a wind-based jutsu to slice through their bodies. Not to mention the fact that Sarada never witnessed her mother perform any hand signs.

Sarada swallowed and uttered meekly, "...Mama?"

Absolute, unadulterated terror coursed through her when the woman's head snapped in her direction. Mentally berating herself, Sarada immediately regretted her imprudent decision to call out to her. Despite her fight or flight instinct screaming at her to flee at once, her feet stubbornly remained rooted to the ground. The woman finally lifted her head and brushed her tousled bangs towards the left side of her face, exposing the crescent shaped mark that replaced the rhombus on her forehead. Sarada's widened eyes connected with a pair of striking green ones, which exuded the same intense hatred she saw the night her mother slapped her.

Never did Sarada fathom that the woman who brought her into this world would also be the one to take her out.

* * *

 _A/N: Apologies for the delay in releasing the chapter. Hoping to have new chapters out in a timely manner. Thanks again for reading and reviewing!_


	4. Chapter 4: Tempest

_A/N: Again, so sorry for the delay! Finally got to go on a vacation! Yay!_

* * *

 **Tempest**

Sarada breathed in short, labored gasps, at a complete loss of what to do or say next. Her legs trembled so violently, she felt they would give out any moment. The woman raked her fingers through her flowing, pink tresses as if deaf to Jugo's agonized wails.

"Oh shit!" Suigetsu exclaimed, his body melting in fear.

His purple eyes darted to the downed Jugo and then back up to the woman standing before them. Apparently, this woman possessed some kind of invisible weapon or strange justu to tear her enemies apart without the use of hand signs. In order to save Jugo from certain death, he had to intervene immediately. On the other hand, if he confronted the woman, he would surely suffer the same fate as his friend and mentor. Acting swiftly, he bolted to a keypad on the wall and punched in a short sequence of numbers.

The ear-piercing sound of an alarm suddenly filled the lair, followed by the loud clanking sound of jail cells flying open. The thunder of many footfalls could be heard encroaching upon the main laboratory. A massive horde of Orochimaru's artificially created beings flooded the corridors leading into the laboratory. Seizing the opportunity to use the stampede as a cover, Suigetsu rushed into the horde to retrieve Jugo before he was trampled by the lab experiments fleeing from captivity. Sarada and ChouChou screamed, helpless in the face of the stampede closing in on them from all directions.

"Sarada!" ChouChou cried out as they were swept into the stampede.

Sarada uselessly outstretched her hand towards ChouChou, though she knew she had been carried too far away to reach her.

"Sarada!" ChouChou's voice rose above the rush of feet and frenzied hollers. To Sarada's dismay, her dearest friend's voice had become increasingly distant.

Thinking quickly, Sarada buried her hand in her weapon holster and fished for her wire strings. In order to save ChouChou and escape, she had to pinpoint a high, safe target to latch the wire strings onto. Raising her gaze over the tops of heads rushing past her, Sarada spotted an eye-catching pink figure through the corner of her eye. Her mother hovered overhead, safely evading the stampeding lab experiments. The maelstrom of panicked thoughts devoured Sarada's rationality and drowned out her focus on escaping the stampede.

How did her mother suddenly acquire the ability to fly? Just what had happened to her?

Before she could delve any further into the subject, something seized the collar of her qipao and forcibly plucked her out of the horde.

"I've got you!" she heard Mitsuki shout from a distance.

Mitsuki brought her out of the stampede, granting her a better view of her mother, who watched the chaotic scene unravel from above. He set her body down at the mouth of a secret passageway hidden behind a large data storage unit.

"Let's go!" Mitsuki urged the preoccupied Sarada, grabbing her by the hand.

Sarada resisted the pull of his hand, lingering behind to take one last glimpse of her mother. Before she knew it, she felt a warm fluid coat the front of her qipao. Something bisected the bodies of the entire horde of lab experiments in the blink of an eye.

Despite the overwhelming urge to scream at the top of her lungs, sheer horror rendered her mute. Her mother's face was devoid of any emotion whatsoever and there was no telling what would happen next. Sarada recognized the killing intent within those haunting eyes that penetrated her to her core and made her mother virtually unrecognizable to her.

Who was this monster her mother had become?

When she felt the tug of Mitsuki's hand again, she did not resist this time. Peeling her teary eyes away, Sarada followed Mitsuki into the darkness of the secret passageway leading outside the hideout.

Now that she was alone, the pink haired woman heaved a weary sigh and descended to the ground. Her bare feet touched down, wetting her soles in a pool of blood. She stepped over the dismembered corpses of the lab subjects as if they were mere garbage littered before her feet. The woman approached a large glass container housing some kind of fetus-like creature submerged in water. Leaning closer to the container, she took a hard look at the image reflected off the glass. Brilliant green eyes framed by thick, pink lashes gazed back at her.

After so long, she believed she was fated to eventually forget her own appearance.

Unlike her vessel, the tip of her nose was more pointed, her eyes sharper, and lips fuller with a well-defined cupid's bow. Taking in the familiar facial features she thought she'd never see again, her fingers traced the outline of her youthful, rounded face and stopped at her neck.

"How degrading…" she uttered dully, touching her fingers to the silver bell pendent hanging from the black choker she wore. She reached behind her neck and fished for the clasp of the choker.

"It wouldn't be wise to take that off, Sengen-sama," she heard a wheezy voice speak from behind her.

The woman swiftly pivoted on her heels to face the unscathed Orochimaru standing behind her, smiling as if nothing had ever happened. She balled her fingers into fists and snarled, "How did you—"

Orochimaru casually raised a hand, interrupting her. "It is your name, isn't it? Or do you prefer I call you by one of your other names?"

She raised a sole brow, appearing more annoyed than surprised. "How did you survive?"

"Feel free to slice me up as you please. That way, I can continue observing the extent of your powers." His smile remained undisturbed. "I awakened you by reuniting your soul with the other half that was contained in that necklace. Within those dead eyes, I saw your will struggling to break free and walk the earth once more. As someone who also inhabits bodies, I know an internal battle when I see it."

Orochimaru paused as an additional thought surfaced to mind.

"You should be thankful that girl brought you to me, otherwise you would've been fighting with your vessel indefinitely until that body died of neglect," he added, now fully grinning.

She folded her arms across her chest with a scowl entrenched on her face. She had no doubt he was plotting to blackmail her if she did not heed his demands—whatever they were. However, she needed immediate answers and deemed it best to ascertain his intentions. "What do you want with me?"

Beneath her cold, venom-laced tone, Orochimaru could detect a hint of an antiquated accent. Oddly enough, her vernacular and speech patterns were more consistent with that of the present-day.

This woman was truly an enigma—that much was certain.

"My only request is for your cooperation, Sengen-sama," Orochimaru stated earnestly.

"I refuse to cooperate with humans," Sengen declared with finality, shutting her ears to any further requests.

He cracked a subtle smirk. He was well aware that a deity such as herself would never deign to collaborate with humans. But, unbeknownst to her, she didn't have a choice.

"Are you sure about that? You are still not complete. You'll find that your body has limitations preventing you from regaining your full power."

Her rosy pink lips firmed into an irked grimace. She pointed to the crescent shaped mark on her brow. "Are you telling me you can remove this eyesore on my forehead?"

"I'm afraid that seal is too complicated for me to remove without further investigation." He shook his head in an apologetic manner.

Sensing his blatant insincerity, a dry laugh escaped her throat. "I had a feeling you would say something like that. You're not going to remove it until you get something in return from me."

"You're a sharp woman," he remarked with a restrained chuckle. "I do speak the truth. I do not know the hand signs required to break the seal. However, if you allow me to study you, I can figure out a way to remove it and possibly enhance your power."

"Are you mad? I am a goddess who is feared by humankind. Do you honestly believe I'd agree to be your lab rat?" the pink haired woman thundered, the tension in her shoulders alerting him to an impending attack.

Before he could employ a defensive jutsu, Orochimaru felt something grip his arms and legs and yank them with brute force. Ripping his limbs clean off his body, she carelessly chucked the severed limbs across the laboratory. His limbless body plummeted to the ground and writhed on the floor like a suffocating fish out of water.

She heard a gagging noise arise from the dismembered torso, which was promptly replaced by full on retching. Orochimaru pried his jaws wide open, enabling a fully restored body to emerge from his mouth. He casually stepped out of the shed skin and cricked his neck with a modest smile.

The slime running down his newly formed body drew a repulsed groan from her. "So you weren't lying. Clearly, you are invulnerable to my attacks."

Since he didn't have anything to offer her without unfavorable stipulations, she decided she was done with him. Orochimaru watched the woman turn her back to him and scan the premises for an exit.

While she was done interacting with him, he wasn't ready to let her leave empty-handed.

He smeared the slime on his shoulder and cleared his throat in an aggressively loud manner.

"You may be a goddess, but you are nobody to the present world. Your legacy is nothing more than a myth that failed to survive the test of time." Knowing his critical words risked another violent reaction from her, he tempered his tone and added, "But, they say only the winners write history, right?"

She had only taken a few steps away when his words lassoed her, halting her in her tracks. She slowly turned to face Orochimaru again and asked, "How do you know so much about me?"

"I stumbled across a few old artifacts while on an expedition to some ruins. I attempted to investigate what was chronicled in the writings I discovered, but I couldn't find any evidence of your existence so I deemed it pure fiction."

"Writings?" she followed up, appearing uneasy.

"Until now, the artifacts held no value to me, but I kept them in storage since they did make for a very entertaining read." Orochimaru licked his thin lips knowingly. "The fact that you actually exist makes them even more entertaining."

"This can't be…" Sengen muttered beneath her breath, placing a flustered hand to her mouth.

Based on her sudden onset of anxiety, she probably had an inkling of the contents of the texts. Finally, he had the dignified goddess cornered!

"No need to fret. I thought the works were fictional so I never shared them with anyone else," Orochimaru assured her, though his words failed to placate her. "Nor do I have any intention of sharing them."

"Good." A broad smile settled on her features. "Otherwise, I'll tear your body apart as many times as it takes to deplete your chakra reserves."

"You—!" Orochimaru began.

"I know exactly how you shinobi operate," Sengen cut him off and laughed softly, relishing his flabbergasted expression. "Regeneration techniques use up a lot of chakra and you have a limit to how many times you can regenerate. Unlike you humans, I can't deplete my powers."

Orochimaru doubled over as he was beset with a crushing pain in his chest. It felt as though an invisible hand had gripped his heart, ruthlessly squeezing it to the brink of death. He crumpled to the ground and began thrashing as if it could somehow ward off the attack.

"As I said before, I do not cooperate with humans," Sengen stated, gazing down her nose at the despicable man on the floor. "I make them submit to me."

His body lifted off the floor and snapped into an upright position facing her. Her fierce, green orbs locked onto him as he struggled in midair.

She asked him once more, "Can you remove the seal on my forehead?"

He made a desperate effort to shake his head.

"You have three seconds to give me your final answer," she warned, escalating the pressure she imposed on his heart.

Orochimaru did not falter, answering with another attempt to shake his head. The crippling pressure on his chest instantly ceased and he immediately found himself on the floor.

"I'm going out for some fresh air. You _will_ find a way to remove the seal by the time I return."

Without a word more, the pink haired woman deserted him and sought out the exit.

Orochimaru propped himself up to his elbows, watching the woman disappear into the shadows of the corridor. A sly grin formed on his face as he released a tiny white snake from the sleeve of his robe. The snake swiftly slithered away from him, setting off to surveil her.

"I eagerly await your return, _Koneko-chan_ ," Orochimaru chuckled privately.

* * *

Sarada and her friends journeyed into the forest not far from the cave entrance. Once they had reached the exit, the scouting Yamato hailed them down. He was monitoring the cave entrance as he regularly did, keeping tabs on Orochimaru's activities.

"Why are you kids here?" he asked, noticing Suigetsu and Jugo tailing them.

ChouChou jumped at the chance to answer first. "Oh my god, Sarada's mom went crazy!"

"That wasn't my mom!" Sarada fiercely insisted with a bit more volume than she intended. She turned to Mitsuki and cried out, "You said he could cure her! You lied to me!"

Mitsuki remained impressively calm in the face of her accusation. "I assure you, I never expected anything like this to happen. I honestly believed he could help her."

Yamato contorted his withered face, absolutely clueless to the source of their distress. "What happened?"

"First Sarada's mom kills Orochimaru with a sword and then, suddenly, that guy's arm goes flying!" ChouChou pointed to Jugo, speaking so fast she was nearly incoherent. "And then there was a stampede followed by a big explosion. Boom! There was blood and guts everywhere! It was so scary!"

"That wasn't my mom!" Sarada repeated with great vehemence. "And she didn't use a sword!"

"That's not what I saw," ChouChou objected, putting her hands to her hips.

"Wait! Wait!" Yamato hushed the two girls, trying to make sense of their conflicting witness accounts. "Tell me everything from the beginning."

He gestured for Sarada to start first.

Her gaze fell to the ground as she replayed the horrifying events in her mind. "We went to see Orochimaru because my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He said he knew what was wrong with her and that he could cure her. He put a collar on her and suddenly she was like a totally different person. She killed Orochimaru and his lab experiments without making any kind of movement. She was using some kind of strange jutsu I've never seen before. We escaped the hideout and made it out here."

She stole a discreet glance at Mitsuki, sensing something off. He exhibited an unusual stoicism after having witnessed the gruesome death of his parent.

"Let's head back to Konoha and alert the Hokage," Yamato said to the group.

Suigetsu helped Jugo stand, lending his shoulder for support. The sleeve of Jugo's blood-soaked shirt was tied around the stump of his severed arm, serving as a makeshift tourniquet.

Suigestu hesitated for a moment before speaking out. "Do you guys mind if we tag along? We're closer to the Konoha hospital than our other hideout."

Yamato answered with a mere nod and led the party onward towards Konoha. While tailing behind the former Team 7 captain, Sarada let her thoughts run amok. Though her mother was known for her fiery temper, she was also known for her iron resolve to do no harm, save for protecting others from serious danger.

While her mother was wholeheartedly committed to her oath of beneficence, the same could not be said for her father.

Sarada's brooding thoughts broached the painful memories she desperately yearned to banish from the deepest pits of her mind. Her father was easily ready to kill and act on hasty assumptions. He was even ready to kill a child without hesitation. The same pain and despondency she felt the day she reunited with her father resurfaced within her. When she couldn't reach her father, she internally called out to her mother for her comfort through the hapless ordeal. Not too long after, her prayers were answered when her mother appeared out of the blue and landed a devastating punch to Shin.

This time, she called out to her father, hoping her pleas reached him in time to avert calamity.

What would her father do if he were here? Could he help her mother come back to her senses? Would he be forced to battle her? Was there any hope for her family or would she have to live with the absence of another parent—maybe even permanently?

It took every ounce of her strength to keep from breaking down into a sobbing mess. Biting back tears, she steeled herself to make it back to the village and seek the Hokage's help.

* * *

Sengen felt the weight of many eyes boring into her as she toured the streets of a small village located a few miles north of the hideout. Her rather unusual and conspicuous appearance drew the unwelcome stares of the civilians. That and the fact that she was still dressed in the hospital gown her vessel wore. In order to avoid casting suspicion on herself, she decided to take a detour to a clothing boutique.

She entered the quiet boutique and wandered the aisles for anything that appealed to her. Nose buried deep in the magazine he read, the merchant ignored his sole customer and waited until she was ready to make a purchase. Casting aside the homely clothing that offended her fashion tastes, Sengen finally decided on an outfit to try. She examined herself in the mirror and evaluated the floral patterned kimono she tried on. The off-the-shoulder kimono stopped at mid-thigh and was lined with rich red trim. A silky obi adorned with a bow enfolded her slender waist. To complete the new attire, she selected a pair of silver high heels that were sharp enough to use as lethal weapons—not that she needed them.

Satisfied with her clothing selection, she causally headed for the exit. The merchant lowered his magazine, noticing her intent to shoplift store merchandise. "Hey! You have to p—"

Sengen snapped her head to the foolish merchant attempting to deter her, decapitating him with a mere glare. Blood fountained from the man's sliced neck before his headless body toppled to the floor.

She briefly examined her clothing for any droplets of blood soiling her beautiful kimono. Relieved that her new clothing had been spared from the gory mess, she headed toward the exit again. As she reached for the door handle, she stumbled across a concerning thought. If her appearance was striking enough to catch the attention of people on the streets, she couldn't fully enjoy her little excursion.

Walking past the merchant's decapitated head, her interest settled on a mannequin wearing a straw colored wig with long, wavy locks. She removed the wig from the mannequin head and donned it experimentally. Then she reached for a close-by mirror situated on a makeup kiosk. The wig was quite bland in her personal opinion, but it functioned well for what she needed it to do. She swiped a pair of designer sunglasses off the counter just for good measure. Her disguise was now complete and she had everything needed to successfully blend in with the humans.

 _This is enough_ , she reminded herself. _I am done here_.

Sengen walked out of the store with a luxurious leather handbag chock full of cosmetics and jewelry, diamond pendant earrings, and a set of gemstone bracelets around her wrists. She followed the tantalizing scent of food that wafted from the various vendors lined up on the streets. Though she contemplated killing the civilians flocking around the food vendors, she figured she could show restraint and taste some of the local cuisine before exterminating the village.

She headed toward the back of a line that had formed in front of a vendor selling crepes. Engrossed in scouring the purse for money stolen from the boutique cash register, she accidentally collided with someone.

"Excuse me," a familiar masculine voice said to her.

Raising her gaze from the bag, she met the sole dark eye of a man wearing a black cape. His jet black bangs draped down his face and covered the left half, concealing his other eye. There was a stick of grilled corn in his hand that came from the vendor next to the crepe stand.

In that moment, all thoughts of restraint and appreciating the cuisine went out the window. Hatred festered within her like a raging wildfire. He stood there completely defenseless and unaware of the wrath she was about to unleash upon him and all of the pathetic humans in the village.

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 _A/N: Thanks for being patient! Please remember to submit your much appreciated reviews!_


	5. Chapter 5: Imposter

**Imposter**

"Umm…" the blonde woman mumbled in a timid voice, fiddling with her purse.

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked the woman who had accidentally bumped into him.

She lingered in front of him with her gaze angled downward as if she had something important to say. He stared at her with a hardened eye, dismissing the notion of her communicating anything significant to him. She was probably another one of his many admirers vying for his attention.

"My apologies," she said quickly and hurried towards the end of the crepe stand line.

For a split second, he thought he heard a trace of Sakura within the woman's voice. She spoke with an accent he couldn't identify the origins of, thus he presumed she was likely a foreigner. For whatever reason, her voice had triggered a sudden queasiness to ripple through him. It was entirely possible he was hearing his wife's voice in strangers as a subconscious way of reminding himself to hurry home.

He wondered of his wife's current health status and how much time remained before she would succumb to her terminal illness. Furthermore, he was concerned about how Sarada was faring emotionally in the face of her mother's imminent demise. Was Naruto there to lend her support through this tragedy? How would he comfort his grieving daughter while he was struggling with his own buried grief?

Death was unfairly depriving him of his beloved family once again.

Sasuke had taken a brief respite from his journey home. He stopped at a small village along the way to replenish his depleted chakra reserves with food and rest his fatigued eyes. Unfortunately, his timing couldn't have been worse. With the onset of dusk, the village sprung to life after the midday lull. He bought a stick of grilled corn to snack on while he waited for the long lines of the other food vendors to subside. Once a party of people left a yakisoba stand all at once, he took the opportunity to visit the stand before another line formed.

A middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard took his order and alerted the male and female cooks to a customer. The man informed him of the price in a monotonous voice, which Sasuke was already aware of since it was written above the stand. Sasuke turned his attention to the purple bag over his shoulder and fished for the wad of cash he had stashed at the bottom. Just as he was about to draw the bills from his bag, he felt the splatter of blood hit his face and wet the collar of his cape. He raised his gaze to the gruesome sight of blood spewing from the vendor's headless body. The decapitated body teetered for a few seconds before collapsing.

The two cooks screamed as the vendor's severed head rolled to a stop at their feet.

"Taro!" one of the cooks shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Her coworker pointed to the bloodied Sasuke and cried out, "You! You killed Taro!"

"What…?" Sasuke widened his eyes, aghast.

His right hand was instinctively at the hilt of his sword, mismatched eyes darting back and forth for any sign of an assailant. The panicked cries of the two cooks drew a curious and unwelcome crowd to the scene. Sasuke continued scanning the premises for any abnormal or distinctly powerful chakras, but he didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Most of the people around him were civilians with feeble chakra signatures, save for the three mediocre chakras he felt close by. Three off-duty guards were seated on a park bench across from the food vendors, each with a fried octopus leg in hand. The cooks' screams immediately attracted the attention of the guards, who rose from their spot and wandered over toward the commotion.

"What's going on over here?" the tallest shinobi asked, eyeing the sword in Sasuke's hand.

"Murderer! Murderer!" the male cook continued aiming his finger and shouting at Sasuke.

As Sasuke turned to face the three shinobi who confronted him, he felt something yank his hand and thrust his sword into solid flesh. His sword had somehow entrenched itself into the gut of the tallest shinobi, killing him instantly. His comrades gasped in alarm and slid into a defensive stance as Sasuke wrenched his sword out of the slain man.

"You're Uchiha Sasuke!" a blonde shinobi stammered fearfully, knowing he and his remaining comrade were no match for the infamous Uchiha. He took a cautious few steps backward and stumbled, landing on his rear.

Sasuke began explaining himself, "You don't understand. Something is controlling my—"

Before he knew it, an unseen force cleaved the bodies of the people around him like a blade. The bisected bodies of the civilians hit the ground all around him, saturating him in more blood. Apparently, the blonde shinobi was the sole survivor of the mysterious attack. He was on the ground in a crablike position, wearing a dumbfounded expression on his face. Without wasting another second, he scrambled to his feet and immediately bolted. A cry rang out and suddenly, all pandemonium broke loose. His jarring screams incited panic among the civilians, causing a stampede on the busy street.

Sasuke's right eye bled red upon activating his Sharingan. He skimmed the streets for any suspicious chakras that would reveal the source of the attacks. Turning down a vacant alleyway, he noticed four young women huddled behind a dumpster for safety. With the aid of his ocular powers, he quickly performed a chakra scan of all four women. However, his suspicions settled on the blonde woman who had previously bumped into him at the food district.

While the other women had the negligible chakra reserves characteristic of average citizens, this woman had no chakra or chakra pathways within her body at all. Though chakra-less people were rare, they were not completely unheard of. Civilizations on tiny, remote islands did not possess chakra unlike the rest of the human population living in the mainland. Not only that, her aberrant accent confirmed that she was a foreign visitor.

The fact that this woman had no chakra quashed all suspicions he may have had. There was zero possibility of her being responsible for the attacks.

These attacks must've been orchestrated by highly trained shinobi in order to avoid his detection so expertly. Either he was the target of an enemy with lousy aim or someone was deliberately slaughtering the villagers in order to frame him. What troubled him most was that he couldn't even sense the attacks, nonetheless stop them. He raced down the streets, continuing his search for any fast moving chakras or weapons. Wherever he went, he encountered unfathomable carnage. Civilians instantly fell dead at his feet, their bodies bisected or decapitated. Someone must've been following him or tracking him from a higher location.

After carefully contemplating his subsequent plan of action, he leapt onto the rooftop of a bank. From his position atop the roof, he could determine the location of the assailant from any further assault or ferret out a spy. He diligently monitored the activity on the streets, where horrorstricken villagers scattered in all different directions. His eyes cut across the street, managing to catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure that broke away from three other women and disappeared behind the corner of a building. Though the figure was largely obscured by the building, the glint of a metal object caught his eye from below. Since the glint remained stationary, someone must've been watching him from behind the building. The assailant either wore or carried something metal that was reflecting light from the setting sun.

Concentrating chakra to the soles of his feet, Sasuke launched himself from the rooftop and pursued the mysterious figure prowling in the shadows. He spotted a full head of blonde hair attempting to outrun him on high heels. The woman wore a set of bracelets around her wrists, which were the likely source of the glimmer he noticed from the rooftop. Sasuke placed the hilt of his sword in his mouth and reached for a set of kunai stowed within his bag. He drew five kunai and hurled them in her direction. She briefly glimpsed over her shoulder, but made no effort to dodge his weapons.

"How…?" Sasuke muttered to himself as the kunai hit some kind of wall and clattered to the ground. The woman didn't deflect them with any weapons of her own nor did she form any hand signs to shield herself with a jutsu.

Was she using some form of advanced technology he was unaware of?

Even though she had a full head start, he quickly closed in on her. She was barely capable of outrunning him on foot indicating that she had no formal ninja training. Resigning her efforts of escape, the woman skid to a halt and pivoted on her heels to face him. Although he had formerly put his suspicions to rest, it came as no surprise that his stalker was the woman who had bumped into him earlier. Sasuke retrieved his sword from in between his teeth and brandished it before her face.

"Who are you?" he demanded, giving her no choice but to comply.

There was no answer, only a haughty smirk.

She merely stood still as Sasuke vaulted forward, his sword coming down on her. The blade struck something solid, the force of the blow sending a buzzing numbness down his arm. Gritting back the pain, he repeatedly attempted to slash his opponent, but to no avail. Apparently, his assault was rendered futile by an invisible force field shielding her from any harm.

Sasuke felt something grasp his ankle, uprooting him from where he stood. He was catapulted backward like a slingshot and sent airborne. The blonde haired woman casually took a few steps away from a bicycle parked on the sidewalk behind her and trained her eyes on it. Sasuke flashed in front of her, lunging at her with his sword. His blade stopped a few inches short of her abdomen. Though his blade came uncomfortably close to penetrating her vital organs, she remained stone-faced. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of the bicycle crashing down onto the street behind her precisely as she predicted.

"Do you think I don't know your techniques?" the woman uttered indifferently, looking unimpressed. "You've used that one on me many times before."

Many times before?

Sasuke wracked his brain for any vague memory of this woman, but his search came up empty. When had he ever battled this woman? As far as he could recall, he never once used the Amenotejikara on unsuspecting civilians. Besides his enemies, he generally used the jutsu to swap places with objects and allies in battle. There was only one person he'd used it on multiple times and that was his wife. He employed the time-space jutsu in coordinated attacks with her during their travels and, most recently, against Shin.

Clearly, this woman was lying about any prior confrontation with him. He would've easily remembered fighting an opponent who lacked chakra.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded again as her nonresponse wore his patience thin.

He struggled to wrench his armed hand free from something firmly holding it in place. Whatever restrained his hand exerted force on it, hyperextending it until there was a loud snap of bone followed by an agonized bellow. His sword dropped to the pavement with a dull clang as his hand fell limp.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, her voice deceptively inquisitive. "I'll make sure the pain lasts."

Despite the coldness in her tone, something about her voice made him feel like he had a longstanding, personal connection to this woman.

He found himself surrounded by a myriad of random objects from the street hovering above him. The objects were pulled into the center toward him like a vacuum, barrelling down on him from various directions. A fiery skeletal chakra construct materialized around him, protecting him from the attack. The purple skeletal being wrapped its fingers around the woman's petite frame and raised her off the ground. Her sunglasses slid down the bridge of her nose and plunged to the ground.

Now that he was within the safety of Susanoo, he brought the woman closer to him and resumed his interrogation. "I'm not going to ask you again. Who are you and what are your motives?"

Although she claimed familiarity with his techniques, the woman foolishly locked eyes with his now activated Mangekyou Sharingan and the six revolving tomoe that returned to his Rinnegan. He couldn't help but become completely entranced by fierce green eyes that pierced his heart and stirred unwelcome feelings within him. The familiarity of her eyes, the sound of her voice, and that strikingly similar aura disturbed him beyond reason. It opposed every fiber of his being to project his intimate feelings towards his wife onto some random enemy who happened to remind him of her. Yet, he couldn't dispel the phantom images of his wife that his mind superimposed on his opponent's features.

His immense grief was not only afflicting his combat prowess but his sanity as well.

Upon studying her more closely, he noticed the bright pink hue of her eyebrows and lashes.

Strange. Was she wearing a wig or did she forget to dye her eyebrows to match her hair color? Either way, one thing was for sure—she had naturally pink hair.

This bizarre finding now had him intractably suspicious. Most adversaries sought honor in battling him and gladly gave him their name, even if he never asked for it. But, this woman wasn't refusing to answer him out of fear of revealing her identity. No, it seemed more like responding to him was something beneath her dignity. She had to be a foreign agent spying on him on behalf of an island nation isolated from the shinobi world. Based on her lack of ninja training, it was unlikely she was deployed by any respectable shinobi organization who knew anything about his formidable power. The only advantageous strategy to enlisting someone who lacked chakra was that she could easily slip beneath his notice.

It was the only reasonable explanation he could come up with. And, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

If she wasn't going to provide him with the answers he wanted, he would force them out of her. He widened his mismatched eyes, focusing his chakra on the captured assailant. Despite engaging in direct eye contact with him, she appeared to be completely unaffected by his hypnotic ocular power.

"Your ninja mind tricks won't work on me." A look of apathy dulled those green eyes that bothered him so. "I don't have any chakra to manipulate."

Though he loathed to admit it, she was entirely right. Genjutsu operated on altering the chakra system in order to manipulate one's senses. He never fathomed that a chakra-less enemy could prove to be so problematic.

Irritated with her apathy, his Susanoo clenched its fingers around the woman's body. He squeezed her tight enough to wring answers out of her, but took caution as to avoid killing her. She let out a heart-wrenching cry as the humanoid chakra monster crushed her tiny form. It was a cry that assaulted him with unbearable guilt. A cry that hit him with the memories of a past he longed to forget like a hard slap to the face.

Beset with sudden regret, he slacked the grip on her. An array of ghostlike hands emerged from her back and phased through the nearly impenetrable shell of his Susanoo.

"Hands?" Sasuke gasped, unable to evade the many outstretched fingers looming toward him.

One of the hands seized him by the throat and forcibly ripped him out of the safety of Susanoo. He hit the ground with great force, the impact stealing the breath from his lungs. A barrage of the spectral fists mercilessly pummeled him into oblivion. The repeated blows to the head and chest left him feeling both lightheaded and nauseous. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could endure before finally losing consciousness.

There was a loud cry and the pummeling came to an abrupt end. "Please, stop!"

Miraculously, he received a break from the ruthless attack, which left him on the brink of incapacitation. He wasn't sure whether it was real or imagined, but he heard her once more.

He heard Sakura's voice.

Rivulets of blood dribbled from his nostrils and descended the sides of his face. His left eye was swollen to the point of closure, rendering his Rinnegan unusable. He blinked to better view the blurry profile of the woman burying her face into the palm of her hand as if suffering a migraine headache.

Who and what was this woman? What was this strange power she harnessed? How was she so familiar with his attack patterns and repertoire of jutsu? Her knowledge spanned far beyond anything that could be gathered through intelligence, suggesting that she had witnessed his fighting style firsthand—and for a prolonged period of time.

The woman laughed softly to herself and shrugged off whatever had briefly distracted her. Her bangs cast a shadow over her face, leaving only an upturned set of lips and a flash of teeth visible. She towered over him, grinding her high heels into his throat. Her laughter intensified as she increased the pressure, stifling his cries and desperate gasps for air. Sasuke focused his intact eye on the crown of her head, setting her blonde hair afire. She let out a crisp yelp when the searing heat of the black flames reached her scalp and wasted no time shedding the blonde wig.

Long, vibrant pink hair cascaded down her back. She had a peculiar set of horns on her head that reminded him of cat ears. Instead of the purple rhombus his wife had worked for years to attain, a crescent moon-shaped mark adorned her brow.

The revelation dealt a blow far worse than the relentless beat-down he had just received. Not since Itachi had he experienced the crushing pain of betrayal that had once set him on a self-destructive path. Despite the slight differences in appearance, he had no doubt in his mind.

It was her.

"Sakura…?" he rasped out.

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 _A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


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